A ROAD WAR

Hokitika Guardian, 11 September 1929, Page 7

A ROAD WAR

PROSPECT IN VICTORIA

RAILWAYS TO RUN MOTORTRUCKS.

SYDNEY, August 29.

With the approval of the Minister for Railways, the Railway Commissioners in Victoria have declared war against the motor transport that is competing so seriously against them. Having waited until private enterprise had demonstrated the mobility and convenience of transport per the motor truck, the Commissioners are now going on to the roads with twelve trucks, and it has been asserted against them that they are seeking to reap what they have not sown. A road war such as Victoria seems faced with, can only mean economic'loss to the people as a whole, and it is not surprising that the latest move is regarded with some anxiety. e It \has been urged, therefore, that Parliament should waste no time in bringing about legislation that would co-ordinate the transport services of the State. However, “co-ordination” is a word with as little meaning in Australia as “co-operation.” “Cooperation’’ is used more freely by politicians than perhaps any other word, and the people hove come to regard it with suspicion, and they can certainly be excused for imagining that it has no meaning. Sufficient experience should have been gained by the railways, it is held, to enable justice to be done to them without hindering flexible motor transport, which lias certainly come to stay. The fact that railway companies in the United Stutes are dismantling short lines, and catering for. the business hy motor-trucks, is regarded as indicating the inevitable trend of events in Australia. New South Wales will make an endeavour at an early date to control in a more scientific manner traffic within the metropolitan area, and the experiment will be watched with great interest. It seems as though the bus services in the city are bound to suffer, in an effort to make the trains pay better than they are tu-duy. Owing,, to the uncertainty of the policy of the Government, transport facilities are .not being developed in Sydney as theyshould, and the outer districts are suffering in consequence.

It is pointed ont by experts who have made ft careful study of the position, that roads should be allies to the rad ways, and that the Victorian Government, by restricting the motortruck users, is turning the ally into an enemy. Whereas the roads have in many cases acted as feeders, the motor firms are no longer inclined to assist the railways, but are prepared to accept the challenge. Aready the motortrucks have been forced into side tracks, for it is illegal to carry a load of more than five, tons along a main road running in the same direction as a railway. However, it seems doubtful whether the Government can prevent progress by these methods for the difficulties in the way of enforcing the law are enormous, as the Government has already discovered.

■ Tt has been pointed 'out on behalf of the Government that there is no intention to stop motor traffic in Victoria, but the Government is prepared to meet it on a '^rapetitive basis. The carriers sav that the Government must always hold the hand, and there is no alternative but for them to meet the new menace, in a way that, it dns.orv'\s. Tii is seems to be a Vague threat of battle. And in such a battle there are bound to be serious losses.